Blue Mountain College head girl Olivia Butler (18), of Tapanui, was one of two secondary school pupils from New Zealand who attended the Global Young Leaders' Conference in the Austrian capital of Vienna at the end of June.
At the conference, Olivia and about 300 people from 50 other countries had the opportunity to listen to ''incredible'' speakers, discuss world issues and visit historic and culturally significant sites over 10 days.
Olivia wanted to develop her leadership skills. She was also very keen to visit Europe.
''It was the best of both.''
As part of the conference, people were split into groups and asked to discuss how they would deal with the Syrian refugee crisis.
Olivia said this was informative as she had never really thought about it as much.
''It really opened my eyes to how big the world is.''
She performed the school's haka at the conference.
One of her favourite places was the Schonbrunn Palace, where the conference was entertained by a Viennese orchestra.
She also visited Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic.
